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Bristol Half Marathon (1:36:10)

Happy Wednesday! It’s very chilly here down the South of the UK. I imagine it’s a lot colder up north as well. Brrr.

So Sunday Ben and me ran the Bristol Half Marathon (which has been going for twenty-five years – wow). Like I said in my last post, we stayed with friends so we wouldn’t have to get up at ridiculous O’clock and drive an hour and a half to get there. And, more importantly, we got to see our friends which was lovely.

We got up at 6.30am, had breakfast and then drove to the park and ride. We got the bus into the race village and it was perfectly un-stressful.

The race village was set in the heart of this lovely area with lots of cafés and restaurants and cool water things.

The only annoying thing was that Ben was starting in a wave 30 minutes after me (10am) so he had a bit more hanging around to do than I did.

Bit of fun photo taking with the massive reflective sphere

We said our goodbyes and I headed to my wave 15 minutes before the start.

It was cold. I wore my capris rather than shorts but I was still only wearing a vest. I looked longingly at the bin bags some people has ingeniously thought to bring. The elites and white wave went off first and then we followed soon after.

Mile one (7.28): Always feels fine. The tide of people just keeps you sailing along. I was going a bit faster than I’d planned but I didn’t worry too much as it was by 10-15 seconds. However, I suddenly needed to pee.

Mile two (7.25): We were able to see Clifton Suspension Bridge in the distance, which we were heading under.

I had my phone in my arm band for music and just had to take a photo so this required a bit of jiggling about while running which is never easy. But I’m glad I got the photo! Annoyingly a few metres on was a much better photo in terms of scenery. Ah well.

Mile three (7.20): The feeling of needing to pee was still there. I had peed before the race so I tried to convince myself I didn’t need to go. I saw men dash off to the sides of the race to pee and looked at them enviously.

At this point I knew I couldn’t not go to the loo. The deciding factor was that I couldn’t think about needing to pee for next 10 miles. So I made a game plan. I could see way ahead a portable loo so I sprinted like a stupid person, peed in record breaking time and got back out there and sprinted a little to gain back time. I ended up back next to the same person I was running next to before. Hurrah. Anna 1 bladder 0.

Mile four (7.24): This was a turnaround point so we headed back along the same road but from the other side. I didn’t actually mind this as the scenery was nice and the road was so flat. It also meant I could amuse myself by looking at the runners on the other side. I was desperately scanning the crowds to see if I could find Ben.

Miles five (7.21) to six (7.25): I was now consistently running 10 seconds faster than I hoped and was feeling really good. It didn’t feel like too much of an effort so I held that pace. Around this point I was still scanning for Ben when I saw Mary on the other side. It was so quick but it was nice to see another blogger (she did 90 minutes of running before the half as preparation for her upcoming ultra <- epic).

Then just before going under the bridge again I saw Ben. He looked so happy and strong it really made me smile. I was just so chuffed! We shouted to each other and carried on.

When we went under a tunnel I found myself near the 1:40 pacers which panicked me a bit as I was aiming for a bit below that. As we went through the tunnel one of the pacers shouted “Oggie oggie oggie!” and everyone responded “Oi! oi! oi!”. It was brilliant.

Miles 8 (7.34) to 9 (7.20): Still feeling happy and enjoying it. I had picked up a gel from one of the stations a few miles ago (hello, freebie!) and it was nice to hold on to in a weird way. I picked up another one as we passed the next station as well. I thought to myself “I definitely want to take one of these home. But the other one will be if I feel I need it”. It was nice to have that safety net. It was also chilled which was a lovely touch from the marshals.

Mile 10 (7.10) to 11 (7.12): I took one of the gels as I wanted to increase my speed further and whether psychologically or physically, I needed to have that gel. It was a tasty one and a nice thin consistency – a High5 gel. I recommend!

Miles 12 (7.14) to 13 (6.56): I don’t remember mile 12 but mile 13 is where I picked it up as much as I could. This was the only part of the race I didn’t enjoy.

Last stretch I put my all in

It was painful and it felt like 5k effort.

My official time was 1:36:10. This is a five minute PB for me! I am SO pleased. And I loved the whole race (bar the last mile). It just felt comfortable and I felt in the zone.

As soon as I finished and picked up my goodie bag and medal. People were thrusting leaflets into my hands and then a lady told me there were free physio massages. I went straight there and got in the queue. Hell yes.

The physio said my hips were unbelievably tight and that no wonder I’d been having IT band issues and groin pain. Whoops. She gave me some great advice though while torturing the hell out of my lower back and upper bum (technical term).

Then I got our bag from the bagging area and a cup of tea and did some stretching while I waiting for Ben. When I saw him he had a big grin on his face. He’d smashed his ‘conservative’ target of 2:10 and pipped his ‘dream’ target of 1:57 and got 1:56:21. Nice work!

Then we headed back to the bus and car and did a quick ‘let’s get naked in the middle of car park in the freezing cold’ to get out of our sweaty stuff and into our spare clothes. We have all the fun.

We started our drive back with the intention of finding a restaurant mid-way home and found a lovely pub called the Bird in Hand.

I chose the Caesar salad and granary baguette with a side order of fresh veg. I just really fancied it.

That Caesar salad…oh it was HEAVENLY.

I inhaled it I was so hungry. Perfect post-race food.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Bristol Half Marathon. It’s probably my second favourite race. Cheddar Gorge half is still my top as it was such an adventure. But Bristol was brilliant as it was so flat, the crowds were great, I felt in the zone and Ben enjoyed it too.

From this experience I just know that half marathons are my favourite distance (so far). During a 5k and a 10k I am holding on and pushing the entire time. This didn’t feel painful. It felt refreshing and I loved it.

What’s your favourite race distance?

What’s the last race or next race you’re doing? Mine is the Great South Run in October.

Do you plan your pacing before the race? In my mind I wanted to run 7.30min/miles with a push at the end.

Can’t believe you made it to the loo but your times stayed so constant! By the time I’d faffed around I’d probably have lost 5mins and it would have been Bladder 1 Mary 0!
Was great to briefly spot you on the course as really didn’t expect to! Glad you managed to spot Ben too.
Again, AMAZING super speedy time! Well done on a 5minute PB! 🙂

I love the longer races as well. Anything from a half upwards. I get so nervous before 5ks. If you make one mistake you can’t recover from it over the next 25 or so minutes, whereas, there’s plenty of time in a half or marathon to pick yourself back up again.

Honestly I have no idea how I managed it. I had to untangle my Ipod cable from around myself as I was sprinting there as well. You just gotta do what you gotta do hehe.
Thanks! I couldn’t believe my time – I was aiming for 1:39 so I was over the moon! But this probably means I need to make the next half not feel as good as it’s going to be more painful to beat that time now.
Yes I totally agree about the 5k thing. If you mess up in a 5k that’s pretty much it. There’s no wiggle room.

Haha that’s awesome that you ended up in the same spot after the pee break! I drank wayyyy too much before the 5K I ran last spring, but luckily there was a bathroom close by the starting line. It’s not a good feeling either way!
Congrats on the new time! It’s even more awesome because it sounds like you enjoyed it so much. 🙂

Awesome effort, fantastic pb! I like half’s too, marathons just require too much time to train for, though I’d probably do another one at some point. My next race is the Cardiff half in just over 2 weeks!

Excellent work well done!!! 🙂
I love half marathons too- I am not good at pushing too hard so a longer slower race suits me better than the flat out speed of 5 or 10k’s. Plus because it has the word “marathon” in the name it seems tougher too.
Oh, the GSR- I did it a few years ago but it was probably my worst race- mainly due to the awful directions/ parking/ weather/ non-descript finish area/ marshals not knowing where the baggage drop was/ being stuck in the car park for about 3 hours after (no joke) and then someone driving into the back of Andy’s new car on the way home. On the plus side we were in the car park for so long I went out to Starbucks and got us each a nice drink and a cinnamon roll for a late lunch!
My next one is the Blenheim half in a few weeks.
And yes, since I got my Garmin I am a lot better at pacing myself- I go to the lucozade website and print off a pacer band and then check that I am keeping in time with it.

Oh god what a nightmare! Finger’s crossed this year it’s better… argh! I remember Reading half was ridiculous. We were stuck in the car park for an hour and then it was mayhem getting out. Just cars everywhere. And no cinnamon roll to make up for it 😉
I might check out that Lucozade website as that sounds like a great idea.

Great recap Anna, I absolutely loved reading this 🙂 Congrats to both you and Ben for such awesome times, you must be so thrilled! Your pub lunch looks so tasty, perfect post-race yum!
I don’t plan my paces, I just go with how I’m feeling and hope for the best! I think I’m at the stage where I need to decide whether to go faster or longer and I’m not quite set yet but either way, if I want to progress I think looking at pacing is a must!

It’s hard because usually at every start of a race you feel fine because it’s the start…you don’t really know how it’s going until you’re in the thick of it which could be too late to either slow down or speed up. You might have rinsed yourself too early or not sped through to make a dent in your time. It’s just experience I guess! Or luck haha.